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Monday, 22 July 2013

One week in...

Hospitals, getting kicked out of hotels and off roading...

So now we're officially a week in to the trip, the car ticked over a 1000 trouble free miles yesterday, and is rapidly approaching the 1500 mark! It's been a strange few days, according to our 'itinerary' that Han had laid out we should still be in Chamonix, i think. That was assuming that we had spent a couple of days in Switzerland, but as our loyal and regular readers will know, we didn't, as the campsite was crap. We are currently just outside Ales, on our way to Meyrueis.

We decided to leave Chamonix yesterday, as Han has been feeling a wee under the weather, trying to get her to see someone was fun to say the least, as it was Sunday. I was aware that most things in France closed on Sunday, but i wasn't aware that included Hospitals, Doctors, Pharmacies, and all the rest of it... Arriving at the Hospital we were told by the ER department that she couldn't be seen as it wasn't 'Trauma'. We were then given the number and private address of a local doc, apparently he worked on Sundays. I rang the number, and the answerphone message said that he was closed until Monday. Brilliant.

Leaving Chamonix, Mont Blanc in the background:

We decided to carry on all the same, and with Han drugged up we left Chamonix and headed for St. Pierre d'Argencon, about 230 odd miles away. We were heading for a campsite at which i'd stayed last year, La Source. But as we neared, the home office (Thanks Anita!) let us know that it was in fact fully booked. Due to Han not feeling her best, we tried to find a hotel, which although it was going against everything we had planned, thought it'd be a good idea. Long story short it was, and she woke this morning feeling much better. We headed to a pharmacy/medical center where they've given her more drugs as well, we're like Boots on wheels currently!

Back to the hotel quickly, last night me and Han were rather peckish, so considering that our room was on the ground floor and had a balcony/veranda, i saw no reason why i couldn't fetch my stove from the car and cook us some chow. Apparently there was an issue with this, as the very angry French man notified us by banging on the door this morning. Helpfully he spoke no English, not even a little, and my French is conversational at best, most definitely not suited to resolving issues! Anyway, i'd left the stove and frying pan out on the balcony, and now it wasn't there. Bugger. Apparently someone in the room above us had smelt cooking and instead of speaking to us or speaking to reception, called the police. The police then apparently came and took stove away to Gap, about 35 miles from where we were staying. Sound a little fishy? All this was made even weirder by the fact that apparently the police hadn't been called until about 2 hours after we'd stopped cooking. Weird, something didn't add up to me. Anyway, repetitive questioning asking where my stove was resulted in nothing, with the Frenchman insisting that the police had it.

If the police do have it, then they still do, as i had neither the inclination or determination to drive half an hour in the wrong direction to go and argue with French policeman about a bloody stove. They can keep it.Bon Appétit!

Right, rant over, last night before the stove incident, we decided to go exploring some gorges down a gravel track that i'd spotted on the way to the hotel. Unexpectedly, this track went on for miles. 7 miles actually before we decided that we could be absolutely anywhere and it was a good idea to turn round. The scenery was beautiful though, and i think Timmy secretly liked being a little off road.

Left or right?

We're now heading off to the campsite, a place called Camping-la-Cascade in Meyrueis. We're set to be there for the next 2 nights, and Han tells me that they have wi-fi there, so i can do some more catching up on this!